


Spectacle

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: M/M, the two/jamie isn't overt but it's intended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25423612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: “Aren’t ye meant tae be watchin’ the stars, rather than me?”The Doctor simply smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling into an unfamiliar shape. “I’d rather watch you watch them.”The Doctor takes Jamie to a planetarium.
Relationships: Second Doctor/Jamie McCrimmon
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Spectacle

**Author's Note:**

> on [tumblr](https://the--highlanders.tumblr.com/post/624255412143882240/spectacle).

“So _why_ are we going tae see a wee film about the stars when we’ve got the TARDIS?”

“Well, you see...” The Doctor shoved his hands into his pockets, letting out the tell-tale jingle of coins and credits and the odd paperclip or pencil sharpener. “This isn’t an ordinary planetarium, you know, Jamie.”

“Aye, I can see that.” The step in front of Jamie reached almost up to his waist, and he stared it down, frowning when it refused to magically shrink itself. Beside him, the Doctor had cast dignity aside altogether, scrambling up onto the step to sit there on his hands and knees. Shrugging, Jamie followed suit, though he could not help but glance over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching. “Everythin’ here’s a lot taller.”

“The people here have very long legs. But it’s the inside of the observatory that’s impressive, you see. This planet is just a few years away from becoming a major tourist destination. It’s – oh, I won’t spoil the surprise.”

The once-polished stone of the steps was long since pitted and roughened by the passage of thousands of clawed feet, and it scraped against Jamie’s palms and knees as he hauled himself up onto the next step. The Doctor had been somehow nimble enough to pull himself to the top of the staircase, and he held out a hand for Jamie, who took it hastily and allowed himself to be dragged up the rest of the way. The motion left his head spinning, and he stayed kneeling on the ground for a moment afterwards, half-stunned, his hand tingling where it had touched the Doctor’s. For a chap who looked so small, almost fragile, the Doctor sometimes did things with a strength that snatched the breath out of him. _It was just a shock_ , he told himself. _Nothing more to it_.

The Doctor certainly appeared to think nothing of it, whistling and kicking his feet against the ground as he ambled into the observatory. Pushing himself to his feet, Jamie jogged after him, closing his eyes at the rush of cool air that poured onto his face when the doors slid open. He was sure that doors like that would make his spine prickle no matter how often he saw them, with the way they knew when someone was standing in front of them. But tucked his thumbs into his belt and strolled into the semi-darkness inside, keeping a careful eye on the Doctor’s nonchalance. He wandered across the room as the Doctor headed towards the front desk, turning in slow circles to take in the room’s grandeur. The walls, floor, and ceiling were black enough to drown out shadows, polished like marble and speckled throughout with white and gold. They could almost have been inside the planetarium already, standing amongst the stars. Caught up in staring into the floor’s inky depths, he stumbled over a bench, tilting perilously close to the apparent void beneath him.

Someone took hold of his elbow, breaking his fall, and he wheeled around to find himself all but nose-to-nose with the Doctor.

“The next session starts in a few minutes,” he was saying. “Shall we -”

Still flustered, Jamie nodded wordlessly and let himself be ushered into the theatre. They emerged at the very top of its rings of seats, which spiralled down towards a great sphere almost dizzyingly far below them. The lights were already dimmed enough to hide the faces of the theatre’s occupants, casting the far walls into an inscrutable shadow. Jamie leant forward, straining his eyes to see the people on the other side. Even with their great height, they were dwarfed by the room around them, and before he could catch a proper glimpse of them, the Doctor pulled him down a ramp and towards the lower levels of the theatre. The other occupants stared at them as they passed, but the Doctor paid them no mind, carrying on until he reached the innermost ring of seats.

“The closer to the front the better,” he said briskly, pressing on Jamie’s shoulders to sit him down before collapsing into the seat beside him. “I’m afraid I spent the rest of our credits on this, but – I’m sure it will be worth it.”

Jamie laughed a little too loudly at that. A few of the people sitting around them cast him disapproving looks, and he ducked his head, still grinning. “Trust ye tae spend all our money on somethin’ like this. I just hope we won’t need it later.” To his surprise, the Doctor turned away, colour blooming across his cheeks. He mumbled something indistinct, rubbing his fingers against the tickets in his hand. “What was that?”

“I wanted to get the good tickets for you.” The Doctor’s words were only slightly clearer this time, and Jamie had to lean closer to hear him. “I wanted – well, I wanted you to enjoy this.”

Jamie was vaguely aware of his mouth opening and closing with no sound emerging. He shook his head, never taking his eyes off the Doctor, but before he could think of what to say the dim light turned to darkness, and the theatre fell into silence.

Everything was black and still for a long moment – then a silent explosion burst across the spherical screen in front of them, sending fragments of light spinning across the theatre. The audience gave a murmur of delight, and Jamie almost cried out along with them, holding his hand up to catch the ephemeral swirls as they drifted past him. Across the aisle beside him, he caught sight of a row of children doing the same. But the light was rising away from them, individual pieces coming together to form larger, brighter chains. Only when the process had repeated itself half a dozen times did he realise that the light was becoming stars, then galaxies, knitting together the universe out of nothing. The thought sent an odd shudder down his spine, exhilaration turning to something more like reverence.

A great stone drifted past him, and when he turned to follow its motion, his eyes snagged on the Doctor. He looked as if he could not even see the stars around him, instead propping his head up on his hand to keep his eyes fixed on Jamie.

He stared back at the Doctor, his throat inexplicably dry. “Aren’t ye meant tae be watchin’ the stars, rather than me?” The words came out hoarse and stilted rather than joking, and he winced at them.

The Doctor simply smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling into an unfamiliar shape. “I’d rather watch you watch them.”

Snorting, Jamie turned back to the show. But something had been set fizzing in his mind, and his eyes slid over the lights and colours that were surrounding them. “I’m no’ that interesting.”

“You are to me.”

“Aye.” He swallowed, trying to ignore the lightness in his stomach. “Aye, well.”

The lights around them were slowing now, the stars settling into clear paths as they circled the room. A smooth voice was speaking about individual stars, but Jamie found he could not remember when it had started, his mind too full of the Doctor’s words. The Doctor said the strangest things, sometimes. Of course, it was sure to be some kind of joke, the sort that made the Doctor laugh and Jamie frown in confusion until it was explained. He stared determinedly at the screen before him, watching the lights dance over it until it looked something like the Earth’s moon. Homesickness struck at the pit of his stomach even as the voice explained that it was a moon orbiting the planet they were on. Its surface was warping and cracking as if some great creature was about to burst from within, shooting a pale green light from the gouges in its skin. The whole process seemed to Jamie to be more horrifying than beautiful, but the people around him were murmuring in appreciation, one or two leaning towards their children and pointing at the screen.

He turned to ask the Doctor what was happening, and for the second time found them barely centimetres away from each other. “That moon, it’ll be gettin’ jealous, ye know.” The words tripped out of him even more awkwardly than before, and he closed his mouth with a snap, clenching his jaw to quieten himself.

The Doctor’s smile widened. “I’m not too worried about what the moon thinks.”

“Mm.” Jamie bit his lip, rolling it backwards and forwards between his teeth until the half-pain of it cleared his head. The Doctor was in a strange mood, that was for sure, and saying strange things, even by his standards. Something about it made Jamie’s stomach churn with anxiety, almost loud enough to drown out the part of him that wondered what would happen if he was brave enough to lean into whatever affection was being offered to him.

He might have faced down redcoats and time travel and alien beasties, but he was still a coward on that front.

“What’s happenin’ here?” he asked at last. “With the moon, I mean.”

He only knew one reliable way of distracting the Doctor, and that was to give him something to talk about. Sure enough, the Doctor’s eyes lit up with a wholly different glow, and Jamie relaxed back into his chair, content to listen to his quiet ramble on energy sources and rare metals and mining operations. The fizzing in his stomach was gradually subsiding to a slow boil with every slow breath he forced himself to take. What he was feeling was relief, not disappointment, he told himself sternly. If the Doctor noticed that Jamie’s mind had wandered away from his words, he did not show it, chattering away happily as the screen faded to black and then into some new spectacle.

It took him a long moment to realise that the Doctor had gone quiet. “I’m – ah – afraid I’m rather distracting you,” he was saying. “I didn’t bring you here so I could lecture you, you know.”

Reaching into his jacket pocket, Jamie felt for the cold metal of a few credit bars. “’s alright.” Perhaps it would be wiser to save them, rather than buy another pair of tickets – but he could hardly concentrate on the planetarium now. _And besides_ , a voice deep inside him whispered, _it would be worth every penny to see the Doctor smile like that again_. “I like tae hear ye talk.” Apparently satisfied, the Doctor settled back into his chair, pointing across the theatre at some piece of rock that had caught his interest. Jamie watched him more than he listened, taking in the way he moved his hands, the way his glinting eyes gave away the enthusiasm that he had managed to suppress in his voice. The familiarity of it – of _him_ – burnt warm and slow in Jamie’s chest, and he wondered if it had been the same feeling that had made the Doctor look at him with such tenderness.

He kept his eyes carefully trained on the Doctor, watching him gesture and smile as he talked, and understood.


End file.
